Support for dispensing containers



. 22, 1936; H. MULFORD SUPPORT FOR DISPENSING CONTAINERS Filed June 15, 1956 INVENTOR- HETITY KMuI m'd.

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 22, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE The National Drug Pa., a corporation of Application June 15,

6 Claims.

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in hangers, of a type which is especially designed for operatively supporting containers from which various fluent substances are dispensed, but'which is obviously adapted to support various other articles.

The class of containers, for which the improved hanger was primarily designed, is a bottle-shaped container which serves both as a shipping and storage container, as well as a reservoir, for holding such substances as distilled water, dextrose, glucose and other solutions, that are injected intravenously or parenterally for various diseases, or abnormal physical conditions. Other solutions than those specifically mentioned can obviously be used with the containers referred to.

Another object is to provide a simple and inexpensive hanger, such as can be readily slid along the exterior surface of a bottle-like container, 20 from a retracted inoperative position beside and relatively parallel with the container, to an extended position in which the hooked end projects freely beyond the containers end wall.

A further object is to provide a device having the foregoing characteristics, in which the hooked portion of the hanger is pivotally connected with the annular portion, which extends loosely around the container when not in use, said hooked portion when in operative position assuming a position centrally with respect to the container, so that the latter will hang vertically and freely from an extraneous supporting element.

Still another object is to provide a device of this character in which rotation of the hooked portion with respect to the annular portion, effects a tightening of the latter, which together with the provision of a radially enlarged peripheral flange on the container, prevents the hanger from slipping upon or becoming disengaged from the container.

With these and other objects in mind, the invention comprises further details of construction and operation, which are hereinafter fully brought out in the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a bottle-shaped container operatively associated with the improved hanger in inoperative or retracted position; Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the container and hanger in their respective operative positions; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the normally upper end portion of the said container and supporting hanger in operative relation; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the same, with the hanger rotated into Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1936, Serial No. 85,251

inoperative position but before it is slid longitudinally upon the container into retracted position; and Fig. 5 shows a container suspended by the hanger from the head board of a bedstead, or other type of laterally positioned support.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a container which is particularly adapted to hold liquids of various sorts, and has been primarily designed for holding medicinal and/or germicidal or other liquids, such as are administered to patients by physicians and surgeons.

The improved container itself is not primarily intended to comprise a bottle specifically, but has been adopted in a modified form of the average bottle shape, largely as the result of such a shape being produced at relatively low cost by means of well-established methods and available machinery, and also because a container of this general shape lends itself well to storage and shipping of a liquid, when in the position shown in Fig. 1, and as a reservoir when inverted into its normal operative position, shown in Fig. 2.

The present invention, as hereinbefore stated, relates specifically to the construction and operation of the improved type of hanger, by which the improved reservoir-container is normally suspended in operative position, and said improved hanger can, obviously, be used in conjunction with containers of various other shapes, but, for purposes of illustration, will in this instance be described as used in conjunction with the particular type of reservoir-container here illustrated.

In the drawing, the reservoir-container is shown as comprising a bottle-like structure, having a central cylindrical body portion I, a normally upwardly positioned, radially enlarged terminal portion forming in effect a flange 2, which extends peripherally about said body portion, so as to provide an annular shoulder 3, said end being closed by a normally upper wall 4. The opposite end of said reservoir-container is tapered at 5 and merges into a neck 6, surrounding the usual mouth, or opening, through which liquids are inserted into and withdrawn from the device, and which mouth, or opening, is normally hermetically sealed by means of a preferably elastic stopper-cap 1, or other type of closure.

The hanger per se comprises an annular section 8, which may be formed as a band from strap metal, or the like, or as shown may be formed of a wire loop, the opposite ends 9 of which are twisted so as to form concentric spirals, together providing a trunnion through which extends and is rotatably positioned a rectilinear section II) of the supporting section of the hanger, said supporting section also comprising a freely extending hook, or other suitably shaped terminal portion H, connected to said rectilinear portion by means of an angularly bent heel portion l2. This supporting section of the hanger also comprises an angularly deflected preferably looped portion l3, which comprises an integral extension of the opposite end of said intermediate portion in, and upon the opposite side of said trunnion from said hook portion.

When the reservoir-container is packed for shipment, or for storage purposes, the supporting section of said hanger is rotated into relatively close juxtaposition with said container, as shown in Fig, 1, and the annular portion 8 is slid along the central body portion of said container, until the hook-shaped terminal portion of said hanger is withdrawn freely to one side of the flange or terminal enlargement 2 of the container, so that the hanger as a whole will not take up any appreciable amount of space, in addition to the actual cross-sectional area of the reservoir-container itself.

When the device is to be used, said reservoircontainer is inverted from filling position into its normal operative position, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. The hanger then, as a whole, is shifted longitudinally of the container in the relative position shown in Fig. 4, the annular portion 8 of said hanger being relatively loose, instead of in tight binding relation with respect to the sides of the container. After the hanger has been shifted sufficiently-far to'bring said annular portion 8 into close proximity to the adjacent end of the terminal enlargement or flange 2, the said hook-shaped supporting portion of said hanger is oscillated in said trunnion mounting, until the angularly bent heel portion I2 yieldingly binds resiliently against the slightly concave normally upper surface 14 of the bottom wall 4 of said container.

Simultaneously, the angularly deflected looped end portion E3 of said hanger is rotated into en gagement with the adjacent side wall of the container l, thereby placing, primarily, a radial, and

secondarily, a circumferential tension, upon the annular portion 8, and resultingly causing said annular portion to tightly grip the cylindrical wall of the container, at the same time that it is maintained against the flange portion 2, by virtue of the resilient engagement of the heel portion of the hanger with the end wall d of the container. The hook-shaped end I! of the hanger is then capable of being hooked over and detachably suspended from any available extraneous supporting element, such as an irrigation stand or other device affording a central support, or though less desirably from the head board 20 of a bedstead, or the like, as shown in Fig. 5.

In this position, the hanger is bindingly associated with the reservoir-container in the utmost unitary and normally fixed relationship, and may be attached to and detached from such extraneous supporting element as frequently as may be desired, and without having to contend with any loose parts which are easily, or accidentally, shifted with respect to one another.

When it is desired to store said reservoir-container, or to ship the same when empty, as for the purpose of having the same re-filled at the factory, the supporting portion of the hanger is rotated from the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 to the position shown in Fig. l, thereby loosening the grip of the annular portion 8 upon the container wall and permitting said hanger to be ternal air filter I6, there also extending through,

said stopper-cap a discharge instrument ll, which is normally connected by any desired length of tubing 18 to a portable hypodermic needle l9, or the like.

In interpreting the appended claims, it is to be understood that the particular form of the device hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, is merely illustrative of one embodiment of the invention,'and that said invention is capable of being modified in many ways, as to the exact details of its construction and operation, without departing from thescope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and wish protected by the Letters Patent of the United States is:-

1. A hanger for containers having a peripheral flange, comprising an annular portion encircling and slidable longitudinally upon such container, and an angularly shaped supporting portion pivotally connected to said first portion, and adapted, when said annular portion is adjacent to the flange of said container, tobe rotated across and into a substantially central operative position with respect to one end of the container, said supporting portion when in said operative position yieldingly' engaging the adjacent container:-

end, to maintain said hanger against the flange.

2. A hanger for containers having a peripheral flange, comprising an annular portion encircling and slidable longitudinally upon such container,

and an angularly shaped supporting portion piv-yotally connected to said first portion, and adapted, when said annular portion is adjacent to the flange of said container, to be rotated across and.

- into a substantially central operative position with respect to one end-of the container, said support-, ing portion being provided with an angular extension, adapted to bind against the side of the container, when said supporting portion is in op erative position, to tighten said encircling portion upon the container.

3. A hanger for containers having a peripheral flange, comprising an annular portion encircling and slidable longitudinally upon such container, and an angularly shaped supporting portion pivotally connected to said first portion, and adapted,

when said annular portion is adjacent to the flange of said container, to be rotated across and into a substantially central operative position with respect to one end of the container, said supporting portion being provided with an angular extension, adapted to bind against the side of the container, when said supporting portion is in operative position, to tighten said encircling portion upon the container, said supporting portion when in said operative position yieldingly engaging the adjacent container end, to maintain said hanger against the flange.

4. A wire hanger for a container, comprising an annular portion, the ends of which extend in concentric spirals, to provide a trunnion, and a supmounted in said trunnion, and its opposite end adapted to rotate angularly in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of said annular portion.

5. A wire hanger for a container, comprising an annular portion, the ends of which extend in concentric spirals, to provide a trunnion, and a supporting portion extending rotatably through said trunnion, one end of said supporting portion being adapted to rotate angularly of said trunnion in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of said annular portion, and the opposite end projecting beyond said trunnion and being angularly deflected with respect to the axis of rotation.

6. A hanger for containers, comprising an annular band, and a wire portion pivotally connected to said band, and comprising a hooked portion adapted to be rotated angularly in a, plane substantially parallel with the plane of said band, said wire portion having an angular extension also rotatable with respect to said band, and adapted to press against a container encircled by said band, to bind against such container and thereby tighten said band, as said hooked portion 10 is rotated across an end of such container.

HENRY K. MULFORD. 

